21. Why is U.S. federal funding important for stem cell research?
Federal funding for research involving mouse embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells (both mouse and human) is currently available and is not restricted. However, federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells is limited to research involving only those cell lines that were approved by the Bush administration in August 2001. In contrast, no restrictions in the type of research that can be performed with private funds are in place. There are several reasons why these limitations are problematic.

In the United States, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides the greatest amount of federal funding to scientists on a competitive basis, and holds a long-term perspective on biomedical research, where profit is irrelevant and the progress of science for the benefit of public health is critical. The limited amount of funding from private sources will be unable to keep pace with the needs of the stem cell research community. Less restricted availability of federal funds for human embryonic stem cell research would certainly accelerate progress in this field, and improve the health of the American people in the long-term.

As the regulations now stand, any scientist receiving federal funds is precluded from generating additional human embryonic stem cell lines. It is still not clear to what extent the data obtained with the limited set of cell lines now available, can be generalized to the whole human population, especially given the known variability among different mouse embryonic stem cell lines. In addition, the development of efficient ways to generate new cell lines will likely be necessary if embryonic stem cells are ever to be used for therapies.

Although the private sector can conduct research to generate new cell lines, this can lead to several problems. One is that, because of intellectual property issues, the dissemination of knowledge may be slower when the most cutting edge research is done in private companies. The results of any research performed with private funds would be out of public control, and when knowledge is not in the public domain, progress can be slowed.

A second problem is that private companies need to benefit from their investments and at some point, make a profit. Historically, if profit is deemed unlikely, research can be stopped no matter how important it may be for public health or for the progress of science.

It should be pointed out that research on human embryonic stem cells may not only lead to novel therapies for diseases that are currently difficult or impossible to treat, but also to novel insights into human development and into the nature of our species that could never be obtained from work with experimental animals. This type of fundamental scientific inquiry has generally been funded through the extensive federal government grants program.

22. What is bioethics?
Bioethics, or medical ethics, is the study of the moral and ethical issues in the fields of scientific research, medical treatment or, more generally, in the life sciences. With advancing technology and modern innovations, new and exciting insights are being gained for many scientific processes and diseases, but at the same time, new questions of medical ethics continually arise.

In the context of reproductive medicine, the ethical issues focus on the rights of individuals to control their bodies or to control the use embryos that are created from their cells. The use of human embryos to isolate stem cells for research and future cell therapy techniques has fueled ethical and public policy debates about the moral status of human embryos and their appropriate use.

Transplantation or research conducted with tissues or organs from aborted fetuses has led to disputes regarding the acceptability of using such tissue.

Cloning animals to produce genetically identical offspring, such as Dolly the sheep, has led many to consider that human cloning may follow and subsequently, has spurred debates about the ethics of creating human clones with the possibility of manipulating specific traits in offspring.

The ethical issues in these areas of research and medicine are still being debated and remain unresolved. They will continue to challenge the scientific, medical and bioethics communities for many years.

23. Where can I get more information on stem cells?
The Internet provides an excellent source of information on stem cells as well as the current research and clinical studies that are being undertaken. Below is a partial list of some valuable sites:

The ISSCR Web site, http://www.isscr.org, has valuable information and publishes a newsletter with important information for scientists working in the field. The National Institutes of Health Web (http://stemcells.nih.gov) site has information on stem cells for the public, for scientists and on federal policies.  Internationally, the Stem Cell Network (http://www.stemcellnetwork.ca) in Canada also provides some excellent information.  Stem Cell Research News (http://www.stemcellresearchnews.com) provides information including an excellent list of stem cell related news articles. The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research (CAMR) Web site (http://www.camr.org) has information on advocacy in the areas of stem cell research and therapeutic cloning.   A Web site that provides the clinical studies being conducted in the stem cell area can be found at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.  Also see the ISSCR Sites of Interest (http:/www.isscr.org//scientists/links.htm) page for a comprehensive listing of stem cell related Web sites.

24. What other information resources are available?

Try these resources for answers to your questions:

NIH Backgrounder on Stem Cells
Stem Cell Basics
Embryonic Stem Cell Basics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) Lecture on Cloning
Center for Genetics and Society Stem Cell Glossary
NIH Stem Cell Information